Chapter Five Education

Rubbing the back of his now-bald head, Andy was escorted by Morpheus into a room with a series of metal chairs, one at the center of the room. Several monitors and a keyboard surrounded this chair, the monitors showing green symbols scrolling down a black background.

Morpheus pointed to the man sitting at the monitors, a black man with dreadlocks.

"This is Link," Morpheus said. "He's our latest operator. He maintains and controls our connection to The Matrix."

"Hey," Link muttered absently, sorting through what appeared to be floppy disks.

"Greetings, keeper of the triforce," Andy replied, grinning.

"What?"

"Nothing. Never mind."

"Uh, right. Anyway, if you'll just take a seat in one of the chairs over there, we can begin."

Andy paused, and pointed at the monitors. "What's that green text on there? Looks Japanese."

"That's the code for The Matrix," Link replied.

"Oh." Andy selected a chair, and leaned back into it.

"You may feel a slight tingling sensation in the back of your neck," Morpheus announced, standing behind the chair.

"What? Why?"

Morpheus plugged Andy in, and a crowded city street instantly replaced the Nebuchadnezzar.

"What the hell?" Andy stumbled around, staring at everybody in the crowd. He noticed he was wearing his glasses again, and he once again had hair. His clothing had changed as well, back to what he had always worn before.

Stumbling through the group of people, Andy resisted the urge to call out. As he walked by them, he occasionally felt the slightest twinge of déjà vu. Some people looked identical, as if the crowd were repeating itself over and over again. Even more strangely, they all appeared to be wearing black and white.

He saw a vivid red flash in the corner of his eye, and turned. A stunningly beautiful blonde woman, in a crimson red dress, was walking by him. He resisted the urge to stare, and instead turned around and continued to walk, until he heard a click behind him. He turned around again, and the woman in red was one of those secret service agent people. He was pointing a gun directly at Andy's head. Andy screamed, and turned to run. He bumped directly into Morpheus, emotionless behind his silver sunglasses.

"Freeze it," Morpheus simply said. Everything stopped. Andy glanced around, obviously confused.

"This isn't The Matrix, is it?"

Morpheus shook his head. "It's a training simulation. But those," he pointed at the agent, "do exist in The Matrix. They are security programs, with only one purpose; kill any unplugged humans. Few have ever faced on and lived. When you see one of those, you run."

Morpheus' cell phone rang, and Andy jumped. Morpheus took it out, and answered it. "Link, load up the martial arts training programs."

"In what order?" Link replied on the other line. "There are so many of them-"

"Surprise me."

"Martial arts program?" Andy muttered. "What- hey!"

Morpheus had disappeared, as had the street. Everything was white.

A few hours later, Morpheus was standing beside Link, arms folded. "How's he doing?"

Link sighed. "Well, he breezed right through Krav Maga, Judo, Jujitsu, Ninjutsu, Kendo, Karate, and Tae Kwan Do."

"What are you doing now?"

"Pressure points. Personal request of his."

Morpheus smiled, and left. A few hours later, he came back. "Is he still going?"

Link sighed. "Yeah. He made a few more requests. Since he realized he's never going to go to college, he asked me to load up a few programs on that. Right now, he has a PhD in a few different subjects. I think he wants me to cover every single major."

"Are there any disks that he hasn't gone through?"

"In our library? Yeah, about fifty of them left."

"Give him whatever he wants."

"Even if he asks for the Kama Sutra one?"

Morpheus smiled slightly. "Yes."

Link shook his head. "Whatever you say."

It took three days, but by the time they reached Zion, Andy's mind contained almost as much (if not more) knowledge than the library of congress.